Sciatica in St. Charles, MO. Anyone who has ever experienced sciatica will struggle to capture in words the severity of pain that accompanies it and the degree of distress and disability the condition can wreak on your life. If you suspect that you may have sciatica or have been diagnosed with a sciatic nerve condition, get the care you need right away.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of fifteen St. Charles, MO area physical therapy treatment clinics. Our clinics specializing in movement health and owned and operated by our treating doctors are dedicated to providing you with thoughtful, individualized, strategic care for your sciatica or other conditions near St. Charles, MO. Talk to a physical therapist in the St. Charles area about sciatica care for you today or request an appointment online now.

What is Sciatica?

Sciatica is the irritation of the sciatic nerve, which happens to be the most extensive nerve in the human body. The sciatic nerve begins in the nerve roots located in the lower spine to the pelvis, where it then reaches back to each buttock and travels down and through the back of each leg. People frequently mistaken low back pain for sciatica, but sciatica is distinct in that the pain because the pain from sciatica radiates from this precise nerve path.

The term sciatica is not, in itself, a diagnosis — contrary to popular assumption. In fact, sciatica is only a word used to describe a set of symptoms connected to the sciatic nerve that surface when an existing medical condition causes the sciatic nerve to be irritated, inflamed, pinched, or compressed. The symptoms of sciatica range greatly, but frequently include pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling down the buttock and leg. Unlike low back pain, people with sciatica experience symptoms down into the buttock, legs, and feet.

Do I Have Sciatica? – Sciatica Symptoms

Each individual experiences sciatica symptoms differently. Your sciatica’s exact presentation is dictated by the positioning of the pressure or damage to the nerve root. Sciatica typically includes symptoms like pain, numbness, loss of muscle function, tingling, and pain that worsens when in certain positions.

The distinguishing marker of sciatica is pain that follows the path of the sciatic nerve from the low spine to the pelvis, buttocks, and legs. Typically, a patient with sciatica will experience symptoms only on one side — either the left or right hip and leg. However, it is possible for a patient to experience sciatic pain and symptoms down both nerve paths. This is determined by where on the sciatic nerve the irritation or compression occurs.

Pain is such a significant component of the sciatica experience for St. Charles, MO sciatica sufferers. Sciatica pain can range from:

• Sharp
• Jolting
• Shooting
• Burning
• Electric
• Stabbing
• Tingling

If you are suffering from the debilitating pain and other limiting symptoms of sciatica, get in touch with a medical professional specializing in spine health immediately. Axes Physical Therapy’s St. Charles, MO area physical and occupational therapists will lead you on your journey to a full recovery and craft a care plan with the best chance of success of restoring your mobility and freedom from pain.

What Causes Sciatica?

For most individuals, their sciatica is caused by the irritation or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. These cases are nearly always successfully repaired with physical therapy in the St. Charles area designed to target the underlying cause of your sciatica symptoms, and some even resolve naturally as time passes and you practice safe exercise and home care. However, for patients suffering from sciatica due to the direct compression of the sciatic nerve, more aggressive treatments like invasive surgery may be used.

Usually, patients with conditions such as sciatica pain do not know what caused their pain to begin with. Whether you suffered an acute injury while playing sports or being active or woke up one day with sharp pains down your left leg that you can’t explain, our St. Charles, MO area physical therapists have the clinical success and up-to-date evidence-based knowledge you need and deserve from your sciatica treatment professional.

Most Common Sciatica Causes

• Herniated disc
• Slipped disc
• Bone spur
• Spinal stenosis
• Piriformis syndrome
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spondylolisthesis
• Pregnancy
• Vertebral fracture

Major Risk Factors for Sciatica

You may be at a higher risk of developing sciatica and other physical and neurological conditions based on your background and activities. Risk factors associated with sciatica include:

• Age. Over the years, our bodies undergo natural wear and tear and the bone and soft tissue in joints including the spine can wear away and increase your risk of sciatica.
• Weight. The more weight on your body, the harder your back muscles have to work, and the more pressure the tissue in your spine and pelvic joints face.
• Other medical conditions. Diabetic patients are suseptable to nerve damage, and joint-related diagnoses like osteoarthritis can cause pain and pressure on your spine and sciatic nerve.
• Occupation/Daily activities. Jobs that require lifting heavy loads for long periods, frequent bending and twisting, or driving (causing the up-and-down movement and vibration of the body) can cause sciatica.
• Lifestyle. Lifestyle habits like a “couch potato” daily routine or smoking can cause inflammation and weakness.

What Sciatica Treatment Options Do I Have in St. Charles, MO?

There are numerous treatments that are often used to treat sciatica patients. Different treatment solutions, ranging from conservative recommendations like cold and heat applications to intensive operations, vary in their accepted level of efficacy. Regardless of their respective disciplines, medical providers who work with sciatica all recognize that being physically active is a critical component of managing and treating sciatica. This is contrary to outdated recommendations to confine sicatica patients to bed rest, which is no longer an accepted treatment fo sciatica as it does not improve disabiity or pain in patients.

Remember that it is your responsibility to turn to a licensed medical professional before making any decisions about your own medical care. Our St. Charles, MO area physical and occupational therapists with Axes Physical Therapy are committed to providing St. Charles, MO with access to healthcare that maximizes movement health and quality of life. For you, that means studying your medical history, sciatica symptoms, and other key factors. Your Axes medical professional specializing in movement health in St. Charles, MO will complete a free screening before treating you so that we can truly grasp the big picture of your physical condition and develop an individualized treatment plan for your needs.

In addition to specializing in treating St. Charles, MO area sciatica patients, our skilled St. Charles area practitioners have what it takes to give you the care you need. We apply our knowledge and experience working with kinesiology and the musculoskeletal system toward providing people like you in St. Charles, MO with many forms of care. Learn more below.

• Physical Therapy Clinic
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
• Sciatica Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment
• Plantar Fasciitis Treatment
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy

Popular Treatments for Sciatica in St. Charles, MO

Healthcare professionals and especially those who are specialists in spinal care recommend some of the following as treatment of sciatica for certain patients. Your primary care doctor, St. Charles, MO Axes physical therapist, and all other members of your treatment team will work in tandem to provide you with the sciatica care that is right for you.

• Medications. There is some conflicting information regarding which drugs are effective for treating sciatica, but just like with any other drug, every medication comes with potential risks. Largely used in reducing the experience of sciatica symptoms, some drugs that can be used for sciatca patients include:
  • Anti-inflammatories
  • Muscle relaxers
  • Antidepressants
  • Corticosteroids
  • Anticonvulsants
  • Opiod pain medications
• Physical therapy. Physical therapy is a powerful sciatica care method that is recommended for most patients with sciatica. Physical therapy employs a number of treatment modalities that target comprehensive movement health and repair the underlying cause of your sciatica pain. Working with a physical therapist in the St. Charles, MO area can help you achieve pain relief, improve your range of motion, become physically healthier, halt or prevent permanent disability and nerve damage, and protect against future injuries or sciatica flair-ups. Your St. Charles, MO physical therapist will treat your sciatica pain with treatment methods that improve your posture, restore balance, increase flexibility, improve strength, and relieve pressure.
• Injections. In some cases, your health care professional might recommend an injection or series of injections to the affected area. Common injection treatments for sciata are nerve root blocks, which apply a steroid and local anesthetic directly to the root of the irritated nerve, or epidural injections, which administer the steroid and anesthetic to the epidural space surrounding the nerve. As a sciatica sufferer in St. Charles, MO, you may use injections as a way to temporarily aleviate inflammation around the irritated nerve for the purposes of pain relief and maintain mobility. The effects can wear off in weeks or months.
• Surgery. Because of how invasive and high risk it often is, surgery is usually reserved for patients with the most severe symptoms or those who have not responded well to more conservative approaches. There are a number of surgical procedures for sciatica depending on the cause of the condition, such as a microdiscectomy where the surgeon removes the herniated disc or a laminectomy where the surgeon removes part of the vertebral bones to remove direct pressure on your sicatic nerve. To maximize your chances of success, operations should be proceeded and followed by pre- and post-operative physical therapy care.
  You should consider surgery for your sciatica if:
  • you experience incontinence
  • you have bone spurs, known as spinal stenosis, putting direct pressure on your sciatic nerve
  • you have severe neurological dysfunction
  • you have not experienced or are no longer experiencing permanent relief or healing with other treatments

Benefits of St. Charles, MO Physical Therapy for Sciatica

One of the best things you can do for your sciatica is to move. Staying active, stretching, and performing exercises that target the source of your sciatica are proven, necessary parts of any St. Charles, MO sciatica treatment plan.

Coincidentally, these are all major elements to any physical therapy care we provide St. Charles, MO area sciatica patients through the Axes Physical Therapy network of physical therapy offices. By working with a physical therapist near St. Charles, MO, you can strengthen and mobilize tissues in the lower back, pelvis, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs and heal the source of your sciatica.

Our physical therapy services work to:

• Improve functional movement
• Relieve sciatic nerve pain
• Reduce muscle spasms
• Restore function of the lumbar spine and the sacroiliac joint
• Improve mobility of the lower body
• Foster a better healing environment in the lower back
• Restore overall balance and proper posture in the back and legs
• Promote neurologic adaptations to reduce the perception of pain
• Prevent future pain flareups and permanent nerve damage
• Foster confidence in your ability to move pain-free

Your dedicated St. Charles, MO physical therapist will design a plan incorporating a variety of different treatment modalities in your sciatica treatment plan, such as:

• Hot and cold therapies
• TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stiumlation
• Ultrasound
• Flexbiliby and strength exercises
• Joint manipulation
• Soft tissue mobilization
• Dry needling
• Education and training for posure, safe technique, and activity modifications

Trust your movement health care team at Axes Physical Therapy to determine the sciatica treatment modalities best for you and act as an integral player in your larger medical team to help you manage your sciatica symptoms, alleviate the underlying irritation of your sciatic nerve, and reclaim the strength, flexibility, and full range of motion of a healthy individual. Speak to a medical provider in St. Charles, MO now to explore your sciatica treatment options, including a quality, tailored physical therapy plan.

Get Relief for your Sciatica in St. Charles, MO Now

When the excruciating pain and alarming limitations of sciatica prevent you from the life you want and the activities you enjoy, find a trustworthy sciatica treatment provider right away. Swift and proven physical therapy for your sciatica in the St. Charles, MO area can relieve your pain and return you to optimal mobility.

Access convenient, effective sciatica treatment from Axes Physical Therapy near St. Charles, MO today. Our fifteen Missouri physical therapy locations make it possible for you to get quality care. Find the location nearest you or request an appointment online right now.